Look into my eyes... Wait, not like that. Yikes.

Ever experienced anxiety before? Does the thought of staring into a stranger's eyes for an extended period of time give you goosebumps? Are they bad goosebumps?

If you, like me, are unacustomed to deep-diving into people's inquisitive stares, then the incredibly strange and fascinatingly specific Youtube channel "The Library of Emotions" will get your attention and keep it long after you've decided you should stop watching.

Basically, on this channel, people's faces alight the screen to stare you down in a million different ways.

Some look neutral...

Others look a little less than neutral...

And some are a tad frightening...

What... What is This?

In a word: weird.

Yep, this channel's content is weird. And yet, the subject matter is as simple and mundane as it gets - filming faces of all types. Up close. As they stare straight through the screen, you and your feeble life all at once.

Something about being stared at intensely by strangers for 10 minutes makes you feel like either 'A', there's something on your face or 'B', something bad is about to happen.

But, despite these totally natural thoughts, nothing bad is actually on your face and nothing on your face is actually about to happen (besides tears of agonizing self-pity, perhaps).

With titles like "I want you to feel loved asleep or awake. Because I love you 36 hours a day | Therapy for anxiety", it's clear Yuliku, the filmographer behind this madness, is reaching for the stars with out-of-this-world aspirations.

It's weird that these videos are meant to make you feel. What's even weirder about them is that they actually do.

Amplifying Anxiety or Eliminating it?

Although the aim of most of these videos is to help combat anxiety, Yuliku's efforts actually do the opposite, at least at first.

You feel awkward being looked at. You feel odd being oggled. But, then something magical happens...

You start to feel relaxed with each stranger's gaze.

It's like a teeny switch buried deep in the floofiest part of your subconscious gets tripped over by a wandering marshmallow and suddenly it all... It all makes sense.

Each remarkably unique set of eyes holds the universe. Every face reveals a lifetime of living...

It's no wonder we humans avoid each other's eyes so much - there's nowhere to hide in there.

Intense gazing is reserved for lovers and enemies, but not passersby. These videos show you why.

Stare Into My Soul, Please (Thanks)

What would you do if a quirky filmographer thrust a camera in your face and asked you to stare into it? Act natural?

After watching enough of these, you may come to the conclusion, as I did, that any and every reaction to such a challenge that you could possibly conceive of is just as natural as the next.

Oh, and nobody's beating me in a staring contest ever again.

AD:

This article may contain affiliate links. We earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!